Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1887-05-21
CHAPTER TX.
A LITTLE root,


When opened my eyes again found my
self lying on skin mat, not far from the FIRE
round which wo had been gathered for tho
dreadful feast. Near me lay Leo, apparently
In a swoon. and over him was bending the
tall form OF the girl Ustane, who was wash
ing deep spear wound In his side with water
preparatory to binding It up with linen.
Leaning against the wall Of the cave behind
her was Job, apparently unhurt, but bruised
and trembling. On the other side Of tho fire,
tossed this way and that, ns though they had
thrown themselves down to sleep In some mo-
ment Of absolute exhaustion, were the bodies
Of those he had killed In our frightful strug-
gle for life. l counted them: there were
twelve, besides tho woman and the corpse Of
poor Mahomed, who had Gied by my hand,
which, tho fire stained pot by its side, was
placed at the end Of the irregular line. To
the left, body Of men were engaged In bind
ing the arms Of the survivors Of the oannibals
behind them, and then fastening them two
and two. The villains were submitting with
look of sullsy indifference upon their faces
that accorded i'll with the bafIled fury that
CLEANED In their somber eyes, In front OF
these men, directing their operations, stood
no other than our friend Billali, looking
rather tired, but particularly patriarchal with
his flowing beard, and as cool and uncon-
cerned Gs though he were experimenting the
cutting up of an OK.
Presently he turned. and perceiving that /
was sitting up, advanced TO me, and, with
the utmost courtesy, said that he trusted that
] felt better. answered that at present /
scarcely knew how felt, except that ached
all over.
Then he bent down and examined Leo's
wound. SITS L nasty cut" he said; ''but the
spear has not pierced the entrails. lie viii
recover
Thanks to your arrival, my father"
answered. SIN mother minute we should oil
have been beyond the reach OF recovery, for
those devils of yours would have slain us Us
they would have slain our servant" and
pointed toward Mahomed.
The cid man ground his teeth, and / saw
an extraordinary expression of malignity
light up his eyes.
Fear not, my son." he answered
Vengeance shall be taken on them such as
would make the flesh twist upon the bones
merely to hear OF it. To She they shall 60,
and her vengeance shall be worthy Of her
greatness. That man, pointing to Mahomed,
~ tell you that man would have died merci-
| full death to the death these hyena men shall
die. Tell me, pray Of thee, how it came
| about
In a few words sketched what bad hap
| pened.
"Ah, So" he answered. ''Ihou seest my
son, here there is custom that II stranger
comes into this country he may be slain by
the pot and eaten"
ut Is hospitality turned upside down."
answered, feebly. "In our country we enter.
tain stranger and give him food to eat.
Here ye eat him, and are entertained"
at Is a CUSTOM" he answered, with a shrug.
myself think 1t an evil ono; but then" he
added, by an afterthought, u DO not like the
taste Of strangers, especially after they have
wandered through the swamps and lived on
wild fowl. When She-who-must -be-obeyed
sent orders that we were to be saved, she said
naught Of the black man; therefore, being
| hyenas, these men lusted after his flesh, and
the woman 1t was whom thou didst rightly
slay who put it into their evil hearts to hot
pot him. Well, they will have their reward.
Better for them would it be If they had never
seen the light than that they should stand be-
those Of them that died by your hands.
"Ah," he went on, lit was a gallant fight
that We fought. Knowest thou that thou,
long armed old balloon that thou art, hast
crushed in the ribs of those two who are laid
out there as though they were but as the shell
of an eggl And the young one. the lion, il
was beautiful fight that he made--one
against so many-three did he slay outright,
and that one there" and he pointed to body
that was still moving little, twill die anon,
for his head is cracked across, and others of
those who are bound are hurt. It was gal
liant fight, and We and he have made friend
of me by it, for love to see well fought
fray. But tell me, my son. the Baboon--and
now think of 1t, thy face, too, is hairy, and
altogether like baboon's--how was it that
ye slew both those with hole In theml We
made noise, they say, and slew them-they
fell down on their faces at the noisel"
Iexplained to him as well as could, but
very shortly-I was terribly wearied and only
persuaded to talk at all through fear of offend
ing one SO powerful II / refused to do So
what were the properties Of gunpowder, and
he instantly suggested that should illustrate
what said by operating on the person of one
of the prisoners One, he said, never would
be missed, and 1t would not only BIO very in
teresting to him, but would give me an op-
portunity of an instalment of revenge. He
was greatly astounded when told him that
it was not our custom to avenge ourselves In
cold blood, and that we left vengeance to the
law and higher power, Of which he knew
nothing. | added, however, that when re-
covered would take him out shooting with
us, and he should kill an animal for himself,
and at this he was pleased as child at the
promise of new toy.
Just then Leo opened his eyes beneath the
stimulus of some brandy (of which we still
had little) that Job had poured down his
throat, and our conversation came to an end.
After this we managed to get Leo, who
was in very poor way indeed, and only half
conscious, safely Off to bed, supported by Job
and that brave girl Ustane, to whom, had l
not been afraid she might resent it, l would
certainly have given kiss for her splendid
behavior in saving my dear boys life at the
risk Of her own. But Ustane was not the
sort of young person with whom one would
care to take liberties unless one were perfectly
certain that they would not be misunder-
stood, so repressed my inclinations. Then,
bruised and battered, but with sense OF
safety in my breast to which / had for some
DAYS been stranger, / crept off to my own